RSoak wrote:I'm not here to cause dissent or pick fights and I'm not making anything personal.

Nothing personal intended. We only bash people's ideas and opinions--never their right to express them. And, believe me, this one doesn't even come close to some of the nastiest exchanges around here, usually involving debates over Pyramids, Dr. Who and fanfiction.

PYRAMIDS IS SH**!

DOCTOR WHO IS THE BEST!

FANFICTION....is variable.

And sometimes, I am so sorely tempted to launch ad hominem attacks on people whose opinions indicate that they need help dressing themselves. Unfortunately, that's how I started out here.

My personal belief is that violent media only catalyses such violence, not actually causing it. And that it is one of many, MANY factors affecting violence in general, and gun violence in particular. Idiots like these and pundits they drag onto TV always have only one cause to suggest why.

I completely agree with Raisindot with regards to most of the safeguards that should be put in place before you can own a fire arm. However, I think mental health checks are gonna cause a huge problem. I see the NRA wants a national database of people with mental illness in the US.

If the statistics in the US are anything like the UK then "1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some description in any given year" (according to the charity Mind) - that'd be one hell of a big database then! I guess about 78m people - more than the entire UK population - and constantly changing since a lot of mental health problems are not permanent conditions. Not a well thought out idea methinks!

Whether the database idea is completely different to mental health background checks when applying for a gun licence I don't know. Would the police (as well as the NRA) want a simple (but possibly out of date and therefore useless) database to check, or would each mental health check require them to contact each persons doctor directly to check. If its the latter, I can see the need for massive amounts of manpower/money to be able to do such checks. This is not to say it can't be done some how.

I suppose my worry with a single datbase is that many mental health problems are not permanent and many may not even predispose the person to be a danger with a gun. Would everyone who has ever suffered a mental health problem be required to have their name on some Government database. That thought I do find a bit scary.

Is the US Government going to have the will to push these sort of restrictions/checks and even if they succeed will they be willing to fund the massive amount of extra manpower the police are gonna need?

Bickaxe wrote:I've read a lot of your posts over the years Suzanne (and bugger me that's a lot of reading!) and I can't think of a single occasion where you've done that. Obviously you got hacked by some crazy woman who hadn't had enough coffee so I hold you in no way responsible.

Read about the NRA's "proposal" this morning. I'm hoping that they've inadvertently done the opposition a favor by proposing something so extreme, irresponsible and stupid. Remember all those "on the fence" people during the election? Romney ended up making their decision clear every time he opened his mouth. The republican party has acknowledged that their extremists damaged their shot at the White House. Let's hope the NRA just shot themselves in the foot.

“It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.”― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees:

I personally would start by conducting background and mental health checks on every single person who bought an assault rifle in the aftermath of the Newtownn event. That would be the equivalent of taking jet-flying lessons after 9-11.

Poor Piers, boo hoo. I can't blame the Americans for wanting to get rid of him, but not over this - however, of more pressing concern, is there any way we can petition the UK government not to let him back in if he does get deported?

Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? ~~ Oddball

So the NRA's idea is to arm teachers, or put armed guards in every school. No doubt now they'll be calling for fire-fighters to be armed. So the answer to all the shootings and gun related deaths and massacre maniacs is more guns. More. Guns. That is absolute genius. Reminds me of a Bowie song -

Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? ~~ Oddball

A loose analogy is to imagine if fish was causing fatal allergic reactions in about 2,500 UK persons. The first reaction will almost certainly be to try and get some kind of antidote or injection out there for people to use to prevent or halt the allergic reaction. The reason you dismiss "look, just ban all fish," is because you know it's not a feasible solution. Just as "look, just get rid of all the guns,", is not a feasible solution.

There are 80 million gun owners - all of whom (for all intents and purposes) bought their guns legally and use them responsibly. Even if you were to institute a buy-back program, you'd need to find about $200 billion to run such a program and find some way to implement and enforce it.